American Academy of Medical Administrators
About AAMAJoin/RenewWhat's NewFAQ'sSite MapChange of AddressAAMA home

Education
Specialty Groups
Professional Advancement
For Our Corporate Partners
Member Services
Conference Registration
Resources
 

 
Specialty Groups — Oncology

Medical Oncology Code Changes

ACOA Coding Minute

OPPS Brachytherapy C Codes

In addition to the Level 1 HCPCS codes (aka, CPT codes), hospitals also have to be certain that national Level 2 HCPCS codes are updated to the Charge Description Master (CDM). A subset of these Level 2 codes include ‘C’ codes that are reported for the radioactive source used for outpatient radiation therapy.

C1716 Brachytherapy source, Gold 198, per source
C1717 Brachytherapy source, High Dose Rate Iridium 192, per source
C1718 Brachytherapy source, Iodine 125, per source
C1719 Brachytherapy source, Non-High Dose Rate Iridium 192, per source
C1720 Brachytherapy source, Palladium 103, per source
C2616 Brachytherapy source, Yttrium-90, per source
C2632 Brachytherapy solution, Iodine125, per mCi
C2633 Brachytherapy source, Cesium-131, per source
C2634 Brachytherapy source, High Activity, Iodine-125, greater than 1.01 mCi (NIST), per source  
C2635 Brachytherapy source, High Activity, Palladium-103, greater than 2.2 mCi (NIST), per source
C2636 Brachytherapy linear source, Palladium-103, per 1MM

In addition to the codes for the sources, there are codes to capture the number of needles and catheters used (i.e., C1728, C1715).  While these particular codes do not result in additional reimbursement, CMS will use them for tracking to determine if payment for related APCs needs to be increased in the future.

For additional information, see: http://www.cms.hhs.gov

Watch for more 2005 coding changes in the upcoming months.  Review previous Coding and Reimbursement Updates from the Academy's Website.

This Coding and Reimbursement Update was prepared by:
Cindy C. Parman, CPC, CPC-H

Coding Strategies, Inc.

Phone: (877) 6CODING
Fax: (770) 445-0407

Cindy.Parman@codingstrategies.com
www.codingstrategies.com

 

Cindy C. Parman, CPC, CPC-H
principal and co-founder of Coding Strategies, Inc. in Atlanta, GA. Cindy is a current member of the Advisory Board for the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) and a faculty instructor for AMA Solutions, a subsidiary of the American Medical Association.  She serves as the Consulting Editor of the Radiology Coding Alert and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of General Surgery Coding Alert and Pain Management Coding Alert.  

 Back

 

 

What's New   |  FAQ's   |  Site Map   |  Join/Renew   |  Change of Address   |  Home
About AAMA   |  Specialty Groups   |  Education   |  Professional Advancement
For Our Corporate Partners   |  Member Services   |  Conference   |  Resources

E-mail: info@aameda.org
© Copyright 1999-2007 American Academy of Medical Administrators
All Rights Reserved.